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Aviation Week reports:
As senior Pentagon editor, there are perks to being a scribe. May 26, I had the opportunity to witness aviation history with a small group of reporters invited to the USS Wasp amphibious ship to witness a few hours of the first-ever F-35B Operational Test (OT-1) trials off the coast of North Carolina. I'm posting some of the many videos I collected to give our readers a sense of what we saw on the boat.
During OT-1, actual Marines -- not test overseers -- are operating the six F-35Bs that embarked May 18 for the tests; this includes pilots and maintainers. During DT (developmental testing), we got to see firsthand the first vertical landing and short takeoff at sea, but in OT-1, the Marines are demonstrating a cadence to operations to gain confidence the single-engine, stealthy fighters can assimilate into an air wing onboard the amphibious ship, which will include other platforms: the MV-22, CH-53E/K, AH-W/Z and unmanned air systems among them. This is all leading up to the operational debut of the F-35B, slated in July.
The article contains an 8 minute video of the F-35B with an accompanying written overview of what is occurring at various points during the video.
Original Submission
(Score: 2) by ragequit on Thursday June 04 2015, @02:59PM
Oh Noes... 12 billion spent on a thing. Out of which comes some interesting tech, interesting design, interesting production. money contributed to the local economy. Maybe even a workable airframe when all is said.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2015_United_States_federal_budget [wikipedia.org]
2014 Budget authority is $613Bn in 2014. This is government we're talking about. if it wasn't spent on the F-35, it would have been spent on something else you also wouldn't approve of but still defense related.
Bitching at those who earn a living with a highly specialized and technical skill and not those who pass the budgets, is, at best disingenuous. Go plant a tree or something, let this man do his job.
besides, 30 pieces of silver isn't worth all that much unless they are rather big pieces.
The above views are fabricated for your reading pleasure.
(Score: 2) by Gravis on Thursday June 04 2015, @11:55PM
Oh Noes... 12 billion spent on a thing
defense spending is something like $600 Billion per year. we could straight up give every homeless person a house for that much!
if it wasn't spent on the F-35, it would have been spent on something else you also wouldn't approve of but still defense related.
enough of the newspeak, it has jack shit to do with defense, this is war spending.
Bitching at those who earn a living with a highly specialized and technical skill and not those who pass the budgets, is, at best disingenuous
you know, china used the same excuse for flooding sub-Saharan Africa with cheap guns. somebody is going to make a buck selling them guns, so why not them, right? this is the "hate the game, not the playa!" excuse. the thing is that if there are no players, there is no game.
Go plant a tree or something
fine but you have to eat a bullet first. :)
let this man do his job.
it didn't have to be his job but he chose it do it anyway.
you can be part of the problem or be part of the solution but like him, you have chosen the former.